A New(?) Tool

Back in July, I wrote a post lamenting the fact that I couldn’t carry my work with me when I traveled. I was even thinking about buying a laptop. I’m glad I didn’t pull that trigger.

A couple of months ago, I did purchase a Kindle Paperwhite. I already owned an original Kindle (for which I paid either $300 or $400). It was a little beat up (the corner where the battery charge showed disappeared when I dropped it, despite the expensive leather cover), but still serviceable. However, after I’d studied the Paperwhite online, Amazon’s relentless campaign to sell me one (and an expensive new cover) finally succeeded. It cost about 1/3 as much as the original and it’s a better product.

I used my original Kindle to buy and read books. I was vaguely aware of other features but, inevitably, when I try to expand my use of anything electronic I mess the whole thing up and have to call one of my kids to tell me how to fix it. Anyway, the Paperwhite came with an extensive User’s Guide (3rd edition). I was browsing it on the plane to Salt Lake last month, and came across a paragraph that seemed to indicate I could transfer docs from my PC to the Kindle. It even provided a personal email address where the document could be sent. This may not be news to any of you, but I was astonished when I emailed the two novels I’m working on (Lucifer’s Promiseand The Nun’s Dowry) to the Paperwhite and they showed up on the screen. Magic!

It’s true I can’t actually revise the books (unless there’s yet another feature I don’t know about) on the Kindle, but I can highlight words and passages and make the corrections on the computer later. And there’s another thing–the Kindle formats the MS like an eBook which allows me to see what it’ll look like when it’s published. For me, it’s also a new look that helps me catch problems easier than going over and over the Word document.

I hope I’m not the only who’s just “discovered” this feature.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

New Hope tour (cont’d)

This is the locust arbor that runs along the south side of the Bower, actually the Coker Arboretum at UNC. It’s featured in A Hollow Cup, Gods and Lesser Menand Lucifer’s Promise.